Fort Madison, IA – Fort Madison is once again a Main Street Iowa community. The invitation to rejoin the statewide, downtown revitalization program comes roughly two decades after Fort Madison left the program.
Fort Madison was joined by Ames, Colfax, and Manning. Three commercial districts are also joining Main Street Iowa's new Urban Neighborhood District program: Cedar Rapids (Czech Village/New Bohemia), Davenport (Hilltop Campus Village) and Des Moines (6th Avenue Corridor)
Fort Madison business owner Martha Wolf helped coordinate the city's application. She says the advice and expertise available through Main Street Iowa are especially important given the likelihood that the Highway 61 Bypass will take potential customers away from downtown Fort Madison.
Wolf says there are a handful of businesses in downtown Fort Madison that could be sold in the next few years. She says Main Street Iowa could help provide the city with a plan to keep the businesses going.
Wolf says Fort Madison hopes to hire an executive director within six weeks. She says an advisory board and volunteer committess must also be filled.
Wolf says Fort Madison's Main Street district will run from 2nd Street to 11th Street, between the riverfront and the alley on Fifth Street. That includes several parks and the former Sheaffer Pen Building.
The addition of these new communities brings the total number of Main Street programs in Iowa to 47.